Wholefoods & Trader Joes

I know there's been a few posts about this already but here's a link from just a few days ago talking about the new Whole Foods store:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/portal/2007/05/05/nosplit/ftwkfront105.xml
It will be interesting to see how they get on, 80,000 square feet and the same size as Wembley they're taking a big gamble on such a big site.  They'll need to get loads of shoppers in there to make it worth their investment.

The points about competition in the UK among supermarkets, smaller retailers and farm shops selling organic and healthier food are good ones.  There's a much bigger market for it in the UK than in America.  Certainly Waitrose and M&S will give them a run for their money.

I'm a big fan of Whole Foods (or Fresh Fields as they used to call it where I lived in the States) and find the comparisons people on here have made to Trader Joe's interesting.  While the general feel of the 2 places are similar, I found the fruit & veg at Trader Joe's woefully underwhelming compared to WholeFoods.  Otherwise, I loved Trader Joe's.  When we lived in Virginia they had Trader Joe's literally across the street from Whole Foods so we would go into one and drive across the road to the other (we would have walked but the dual carriageway that separated the 2 were a bit too daunting to cross!)

I'd love to go down to Kensington when they open for business.  A couple of the things I loved getting from Whole Foods apart from the fruit & veg and the ubiquitous free samples of food were Green Mountain Gringo salsa and Oaty Bites cereal.  The cheese selection was better than any other supermarket in the US I came across.  The multi level, 80,000 square foot of shopping will be quite an experience!

Um... The size of the new Wembley Stadium?! What the heck are they planning to stock in there, live cattle and chickens? Will there be a petting zoo? A ferris wheel? A car wash? Good lord!

When I lived in St. Louis the WF had its own bakery and they the best best bread.  But when I moved to R.I. they shipped thier bread in.  I was so dissappointed.  I loved the Black Forest bread, with bits of ham and pepper.  Yum!

Will definitely have to check it out in June.  I wonder if there will be a parking garage as well?  If not, I wonder how they expect to do enough business to support 80,000 sg ft.

Hopefully I will be able to get the "Kiss my Face" products I use.

I'm sure Whole Foods will fill the aisles with shoppers....it's filling the shelves I'm wondering about. With the demand for organic food growing it's a mystery to me as to how they (and all the other supermarkets) will find organic suppliers to meet demand.

...and yeah Kiss my Face products! I stocked up on my last visit home.

Isn't Kensington & Chelsea due to be part of the Congestion Charging Zone any day now?  Maybe driving in won't be so advantageous to many people?

As far as organic and local foods go, it sounds as though they're only going to use what they can get, if they can't get it in the UK, then they'll go to Europe, if not there then anywhere in the world.  I suppose the whole organic farming business, while taking off can't possibly supply all organic retailers anywhere near 100%.  With much more competition in this arena in the UK than the US it may be even harder for Whole Foods to get as much organic, local produce that they'd like.

Having said that, given its reputation as being pricy (ie "Whole Paycheck") they might aim to pay these producers more than the likes of Tesco and may be able to get them on board, if the customers are willing to pay more anyway.

It's a big gamble to have 80,000 square feet of this type of shopping, we'll have to see if they can succeed.

Sigh.  Hearing about my two favorite stores only makes me more homesick!!!  :\\\'(